End game class/gear

[Lampros]

I am using the following combination, and I am wondering if people can suggest improvement. I am only using the non-hero classes, as the hero classes have their own equipment:

Ranger:

Wraith suit plus Overdrive Serum

(Here I am wondering if I should go W.A.R. suit instead, since the Serum and Covert Ops buff give me enough movement anyways?)

Grenadier:

W.A.R. suit plus various grenades

(Here I am wondering, converse to the Ranger, Wraith suit instead, since I have enough things that go "boom"! with all the grenades?)

Specialist:

Warden armor, med kit, and Mimic Beacon

(I am satisfied with this set-up; Specialists need as many utility slots as possible.)

Sharpshooter:

Wraith suit, various ammo

(I am also satisfied with this, but I am wondering if Wraith suit is not needed on the particular Sharpshooter that has the Hunter rifle?)

Psi Op:

W.A.R. suit plus Mimic Beacon

(Yes, I carry at least 2 Mimic Beacons to every fight, as I use 1 Specialist and 1 Psi Op soldier minimum with end-game parties.)

Edit: Once I acquire Alien Ruler armor sets, they go like this:

R.A.G.E. Armor on the lead Ranger; Serpent Armor on the 2nd Ranger; and Icarus Armor on the lead Sharpshooter.

Edit 2: Here's my typical end-game group:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1287625296

[learnedhand]

Well, your at the point in the game where you can kind of do whatever you want since you have so much firepower that you can handle almost any contingency.

I've never actually used overdrive serum, is it actually worth it? Wraith suits as well I rarely build, but I'm sure they might come in handy in certain situations.

The only substantive comment I have is about grenadiers. WAR suits are great on anyone. With the grenadier if you have salvo, then you can start with a blaster launcher or shredstorm and still use something like chain shot or rupture. You lose your utility slot so if you've taken the gunner skills, this will force a choice about whether you want an ammo on them or not. I usually put a perception mod, a scope, and blue screens on my gunner grenadiers and put the blue screens either in the second grenade slot (first with frost bomb) or just give up the war suit and put it on someone else.

[talemore]

Overdrive serum, not really. It's a situational gear and if that situation ever comes, it seems it never does and when it does you didn't used it.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by learnedhand:

Well, your at the point in the game where you can kind of do whatever you want since you have so much firepower that you can handle almost any contingency.

I've never actually used overdrive serum, is it actually worth it? Wraith suits as well I rarely build, but I'm sure they might come in handy in certain situations.

The only substantive comment I have is about grenadiers. WAR suits are great on anyone. With the grenadier if you have salvo, then you can start with a blaster launcher or shredstorm and still use something like chain shot or rupture. You lose your utility slot so if you've taken the gunner skills, this will force a choice about whether you want an ammo on them or not. I usually put a perception mod, a scope, and blue screens on my gunner grenadiers and put the blue screens either in the second grenade slot (first with frost bomb) or just give up the war suit and put it on someone else.

I think Overdrive Serum is quite over-powered if you are at the stage where you have so much resources to mass-produce them. It gives something like 5 armor and 50 percent speed boost for 2 turns? So a guy with W.A.R. Suit and maybe Blast Padding can achieve something like 8 armor - rendering him invulnerable to a lot of stuff - and can reach anything in sight and turn it into a flank shot.

Of course, the big IF is you need to be at a stage where resources are no obstacle - or use mods that disable one-time use restriction.

I agree that W.A.R. Suits are amazing - especially with Blaster Launcher (arguably the most over-powered gear in the game - certainly the most over-powered offensive gear, I think). I now think I'd put it on a Psi Ops soldier as well. I'd still use Wraith on a Sharpshooter, because he needs nothing but line-of-sight, and a Warden Armor on a Specialist (who needs those 2 slots, because med kits are mandatory).

[red255]

theres a breakthru that makes overdrive serum not consumed after you use it.

I've never actually used overdrive serum.

Generally speaking my squad is 2 rangers, 2 sharp, a specialist and a grenadier.

then I stick a reaper on, usually replacing a ranger or sharp.

then I stick a psi op on, replacing the grenadier.

so I got like 1 ranger, 1 sharp, 1 psi, 1 reaper, 1 specialist, sometimes I get a templar in there. whatever.

So your squad make up is important.

My Ranger is typically a war suit with a shredstorm cannon or blaster launcher. with Blast padding he can have 3 armor. with some dodge he can laugh off pain.

out of habit I equip him with dragon rounds because I used dragon rounds in vanilla, but since I MOSTLY use his sword in WotC I could see using something else.

the specialist has a medkit and a skull jack. in a warden suit obviously.

the sniper is wraith suit with bluescreen rounds.

the grenadier if I still use him ideally gets a war suit with a shredstorm cannon. or blaster launcher but since his grenades are already circular I go with the shred, the grenade slot gets an acid bomb.

Psi Op gets a War suit and plated armor.

So story, I took my Psi Op on the last mission, he got whacked by an archon with a staff. it did 1 damage. he then used soul fire to leech back 1 point of life.

thats why I wear war suits, I also used the suit's weapon systems to blow the avatar's to hell.

So your basic questions is wraith, War, or Warden.

I only put warden on my specialists.

I use war suits because the heavy weapon means I am BASICALLY carrying a grenade. with extended range, and I was typically carrying a grenade prior to that point.

I only use wraith suits on my sharshooters. Mainly because I find them rather delicate and the war suits can shrug off damage, and thats what armor is for. shruging off damage.

you don't see the US army going to war in really fast cars. they go to war in heavily armored APC.

Because Armor is for protection.

[mosspit]

No ruler armours?

[Lampros]

Originally posted by talemore:

Overdrive serum, not really. It's a situational gear and if that situation ever comes, it seems it never does and when it does you didn't used it.

As I wrote to learnedhand, I think it's really the one-time use restriction - not the inherent worth of the gear - that makes it bad. So the equation changes if you have enough resources or use mods to decrease or wholly invalidate the impact of that restriction.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by red255:

theres a breakthru that makes overdrive serum not consumed after you use it.

I did not know that! That's awesome - although relying on a breakthrough is not reliable, because of its lottery-like nature.

Originally posted by red255:

Generally speaking my squad is 2 rangers, 2 sharp, a specialist and a grenadier.

then I stick a reaper on, usually replacing a ranger or sharp.

then I stick a psi op on, replacing the grenadier.

so I got like 1 ranger, 1 sharp, 1 psi, 1 reaper, 1 specialist, sometimes I get a templar in there. whatever.

So your squad make up is important.

Since we are talking end-game, I generally like:

1 Ranger, 1 Grenadier, 1 Specialist, 1 Sharpshooter, 1 Reaper, and 1 Psi Ops soldiers.

I still find both Templars and Skirmishers and mediocre even at end-game. I find it really strange that they 1) do not have access to superior armor that the regular soldiers possess (or have their own faction armor comparably as good), and 2) have access to a smaller, and generally worse, XCOM Perks pool.

Originally posted by red255:

the grenadier if I still use him ideally gets a war suit with a shredstorm cannon. or blaster launcher but since his grenades are already circular I go with the shred, the grenade slot gets an acid bomb.

I don't know. I simply find the Blaster Launcher so superior to any other alternatives that I find it difficult to use anything else for that slot.

Originally posted by red255:

I only put warden on my specialists.

I only use wraith suits on my sharshooters.

Yes, this is how my revised armor set-up looks like, too.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by mosspit:

No ruler armours?

Of course! ;) But I need to kill the Alien Rulers first, but in some games I kill them very late.

R.A.G.E. Armor on the lead Ranger; Serpent Armor on the 2nd Ranger; and Icarus Armor on the lead Sharpshooter.

[KRON]

I like using serpent armor + talon rounds + arashi shotgun and katana on my best ranger with tons of mobility and dodge. On my best sharpshooter I like to use Icarus armor + bluescreen rounds + darklance and darkclaw + any miscellaneous item which most fits the mission. The rest is always dependent on the mssion and on available troops.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by KRON:

I like using serpent armor + talon rounds + arashi shotgun and katana on my best ranger with tons of mobility and dodge. On my best sharpshooter I like to use Icarus armor + bluescreen rounds + darklance and darkclaw + any miscellaneous item which most fits the mission. The rest is always dependent on the mssion and on available troops.

Icarus armor is so ridiculous on a Sharpshooter with Darkclaw. Sharpshooter is one class that rockets up in terms of efficacy tier in late-game - but I find it too much of a pain to level more than one, as they are not initially useful as the other 3 basic classes.

[red255]

I sort of understand, if you don't have any sharps the game gives you colonel sharps later for mission rewards. Much easier than leveling them up as you go.

though if you have a superior aim PCS and a scope and expanded mag you generally can get them to a decent rank on lost missions.

breakthrus can be farmed thru the covert ops menu, or after you finish all research they'll show up one at a time though that can take a very long time.

blaster launcher is very good, shredstorm cannon is slightly more damaging and more easy to get multiple targets in its zone. the problem with shredstorm cannon is it will kill everything, not just your selected target. so I generally avoid shredstorm cannon fighting in places where I don't want to accidently kill things like supply drops and retailation missions.

though I'll take them if I don't have enough of both to equip properly, shredstorm cannon is a damn fine weapon.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by red255:

I sort of understand, if you don't have any sharps the game gives you colonel sharps later for mission rewards. Much easier than leveling them up as you go.

though if you have a superior aim PCS and a scope and expanded mag you generally can get them to a decent rank on lost missions.

Yes, I do grind through 1 Sharpshooter from the get-go. But it's just leveling 2 of them that will test my patience. Farming Lost only helps you at low levels; after Lieutenant or so, they are still too slow! ;(

[Lampros]

OMG, I was looking for info on a topic, and I end up with a thread i created, LOL!

[ArkAngel]

Originally posted by Lampros:

OMG, I was looking for info on a topic, and I end up with a thread i created, LOL!

And the cycle is complete

[Lampros]

Originally posted by ArkAngel (フブキ):

Originally posted by Lampros:

OMG, I was looking for info on a topic, and I end up with a thread i created, LOL!

And the cycle is complete

Or it begins again? ;)